This is a daily tally of all the New Era caps I own, wear and pay tribute to the long history of teams and players who have donned the cap before me. Almost every hat I own has a special marking recognizing players, stats or special events within the history and era of the team and style I sport. It's a mix of fun and history as presented through my eyes and mind because I love the game so much, and wish to honor those who have played before as I cheer for those of the present.

Thursday, May 2, 2013

May 2- Oakland Athletics

It’s kind of crazy to think that I’ve been in hot pursuit of
this hat for the last three years, but I finally got it. This, in my opinion,
is one of the two Holy Grails of Philadelphia/Kansas City/Oakland Athletics
caps. It was first brought to my attention almost a decade ago by my friend
Jason Cobb (@MrCobbyCobb), an avid collector of sports memorabilia like myself.
At the time I wasn’t as into collecting New Era Caps as I’ve become over the
last few years. I’ve always been a big of the product, but for some reason I
always felt that New Era Caps looked weird on my head so I never really
actively pursued it as a hobby; even though deep down I’ve always wanted to buy
them.

Back in 2010 when the collection started I had a skimpy
beard growth. I could have easily gotten into full “player” status like it is
today, but back in those days I was sporting a Mohawk and felt that a bushy
beard made me look more like a crystal meth dealer, so I decided against it.
When the summer of 2011 came around I kissed the Mohawk goodbye and began
actively growing out my hair into the shaggy mess that it is today, much like
Athletics players of the 1960s and 1970s like my dad used to watch as he was
growing up. This was also the point in time when I was dared to grow my beard out
like Brian Wilson for Halloween, and since I never really liked the early
stages of my hair growing out I decided to finally show off the New Era
collection I had been building. I don’t know what it was, but New Era Caps have
never looked better on me than when I look like a hobo. From there, the rest is
history as they say.

My original collection consisted primarily of one hat per
team; however, the only exception I intended on making was for the Athletics
because they’ve been my team for the last 26 years. Anytime I saw a cap from
their past I made an effort to scoop it up, including Minor League caps from my
youth up through today’s affiliates. This white cap; however, had always eluded
me month-after-month, to the point where I had given up hope on it for a solid
seven months at the end of the 2012 season through February of this year. In
fact, the one person I need to thank the most for reviving my interest in it is
my fellow right field bleacher chum Omar Gonzalez (@OmarInTheOF). During a
daily perusing of Facebook I came across a post by Majestic Athletic
(@MajesticOnField), the suppliers of everything and anything MLB apparel
related. If I remember correctly they were asking a question about what uniform
from their team’s history would we mostly want to wear. I merely liked the post
while Omar commented on it citing the old sleeveless jerseys from the 1970s
paired with the white manager/coaches cap. At the moment when I saw that my
lust for the cap was reborn.

It would take me another month of daily monitoring through
my go to hat Web sites before I had a hit. On March 28, three days before the
start of the 2013 season, my quest finally came to an end. One of my favorite
sites, MickeyPlace.com, had completely overhauled their display pages and apparently
restocked most of their inventory. My eyes lit up and my mouth frothed at its
beauty. Yes, I realize I’m talking about a hat here, but there’s no reason to
judge me. Anyway, I had been to the actual store in Cooperstown, New York this
last August with my friend Dave Kaufman (@TheKaufmanShow) and picked up a score
of hats at the time, but didn’t see any sign of this cap. I had always just
assumed it wasn’t one they would ever carry. Perhaps this helps better explain
my jubilance. There was; however, a bit of hesitation on my part. Mickey’s
Place isn’t like Lids or Hat Club, and by that I mean they don’t have a
discount card or program set up to aid hat collectors like myself. Every
now-and-then they would run 20% off deals; the last of which had come in
December of 2012. Being the patient buyer that I am I sat and waited… and
waited… and waited for two weeks. Come to think of it, I really didn’t wait
that long. That’s right, two weeks into the season Mickey’s Place sent me an
email for a 20% off sale which I promptly took advantage of. I texted my
girlfriend Angie Kinderman (@sconnieangie) and had it, my 1957 Chicago Cubs and
1940-1955 St. Louis Cardinals hats shipped to her place so that they would
arrive the same time I did to her place in Florida. Also, shipping from New York to Florida
takes way less time. But alas! After so many years of waiting and shady
go-betweens, it’s resting snug on my shaggy dome.

This hat was introduced in 1968, the first year the
Athletics took the field in Oakland,
and was worn by every manager and coach from then until the end of the 1981
season. What’s most interesting about the hat that I bought is the label of it
being a 1982 Athletics manager cap; however, I have yet to come across a photo
beyond 1981 of anyone in a coaching role wearing it. I had to consult Paul
Lukas’s Web site UniWatch.com and a slew of Topps baseball cards to confirm a
few of the bits in pieces of history. But even at that Lukas still has the A’s
only wearing this hat through the 1970s, but I’ll get to that later. Longtime
A’s owner Charlie Finley originally came up with the concept of having the
managers and coaches wear a different cap than the players; one of many
innovations Finley brought to the game including the idea of the designated
hitter. Obviously in the case of the DH his ideas weren’t all winners. This
particular style was worn from 1971-1977, then it wasforgotten for a few years until making a
resurgence in 1980-1981, but only for a handful of games. Like the uniforms of
today the hat had to match the uniform.

Another interesting facet of this time period is a story I
picked up on a few years ago and may be one of the biggest reasons why Finley
decided to have the hat made. Back in 1967, the Athletics’ final year in Kansas
City, Finley had all ready had his team rocking white shoes, because let’s face
it, the A’s are kind of badass like that. That season also marked one of the
most questionable of rivalry moves in sports history. Back in the old
Philadelphia Athletics days their biggest rival was actually the Washington
Senators. The Athletics only played the New York Giants in the World Series and
there has never really been any known bitterness toward the New York Yankees
and the Boston Red Sox; however, with the Senators there was, but I’ll go into
greater detail in a post down the road. Even though the A’s had moved out of
Philly at the end of the 1954 season this did not necessarily mean that old
habits died hard. This is baseball after all. Senators general manager George
Selkirk hated the white shoes the A’s had been wearing and as a sign of
rebellion he had his players wear white socks and white caps on the road in
Kansas City as well as during both ends of a doubleheader back in DC and again
in Kansas City for another doubleheader. I kid you not, this actually made
headlines in the Washington Post.

Now, back to brass tax. As cool as this style was back in
the day, I just can’t see Bob Melvin sporting something like this in the
dugout, and it really makes me question why a guy like Dick Williams did back
in the 70s. Williams and Melvin both had/have a lot of respect for their
players, and as much as one would think a change in a uniform accessory would
mean much I have to disagree. Williams and Melvin are both managers who defend
their players and get the best out of them. In their eyes everyone is equal,
down to the coaching staff. A difference in appearance my cause a rift amongst
the team. I realize this seems a bit absurd, but you’re also forgetting that
baseball players are incredibly superstitious, like myself. Any change in the
game plan could spell doom, just like the Senators found out back in the 60s.
One of the other reasons why Selkirk opted for the white hats was to serve as a
“slumpbuster” of sorts for his constantly losing ball club. It didn’t help. If
there’s anything that I’ve learned over time that seems to remain consistent
it’s that only the A’s can be successful in making extreme uniform changes.

The numbers were an easy choice; however, I did screw up on
one of them. By that I mean I added one extra number by accident, but I’ll get
to that in a minute.

#23- From 1971-1973 Dick Williams was THE premier manager in
the Majors, and for those three wonderful years he was the skipper for the
Athletics in Oakland.
During his tenure he amassed a record of 288-190 and won back-to-back World
Series in 1972 and 1973. He would have been the manager in 1974 had it not been
for Finley’s cheapness when it comes to talent. His shrewdness led to Reggie
Jackson moving on to the Baltimore Orioles and Jim “Catfish” Hunter to the New
York Yankees. Williams was intolerant of this and tendered his resignation, if
you will, and signed on to manage the team’s divisional rival, the California
Angels, at the tail end of the 1974 season. Williams was inducted into the
National Baseball Hall of Fame as manager in 2008 and is actually the only
known member of the Hall of Fame to be a registered sex offender. This is an
unfortunate, sad truth. I won’t go into much detail, you’ll have to look it up
yourself to see how bogus it is.

#5- Joltin’ Joe DiMaggio never looked better in an Athletics
uniform. When I wrote his number on my cap I did it without clearly thinking.
By that I mean I totally spaced out. I had no intention of adding it on because
of the fact that the white cap that he wore was not the same as the one that
Williams, the next name and I are wearing. But, since I’m on the subject,
here’s how DiMaggio became a member of the A’s.

As I mentioned above the A’s had moved to Oakland at the end of the 1967 season. For a
while Finley had been hounding DiMaggio to join the front office, but DiMaggio
originally wanted no part of it. Finely knew the name along would be a draw
ever though the position Finley wanted to hire him for was Executive Vice
President and consultant. Consultant meaning hitting coach. The main reason
DiMaggio agreed was…

1.The A’s were close enough to his home in San Francisco.

2. The biggest reason: DiMaggio needed two more full years
in baseball to receive the maximum pension. It was a win-win for him.

From 1968-1970 he wore the white cap, shoes and uniform.
Classy.

#1- From 1980-1982 the Athletics hired Billy Martin as their
skipper in between his second and third stint as manager of the Yankees. E went
215-218 in his three year stint and gave Martin and extra excuse to vent some
anger-related issues brought on after his second firing by George Steinbrenner.
His best year with the A’s (1981), was stymied by the Yankees in the American
League Championship Series as the A’s were swept three games to none. 1981 was an interesting year that was shortened by the fourth players strike since 1972 and divided the season up into two halves, ushering in the first unintentional American League Division Series as the winners of each half of the season squared off against one another to see who would be playing in the ALCS. The Athletics won the first half while the Kansas City Royals won the second half, which then led to a three games to none sweep of the Royals.

The hat now serves as a reminder of the early years in Athletics baseball in Oakland and how a team can go from the highest of highs to the lowest of lows. The A's owned the early part of the 1970s, becoming the first, and only West Coast dynasty. After that, the team faded into obscurity for a short period of time before developing more of their draft picks before sending them away. It's a cycle I've never particularly been a fan of, but one I've grown accustomed to. While the current owner and general manager work almost identically to the Finley era, I suppose this is truly what Athletics baseball is all about. The players will give their all year-after-year and a manager will eventually become tired of the system and opt out. I can only hope that the BoMel era is here to stay.

4 comments:

This was the first A's hat my dad ever got when he was a kid, and you still see him get a little twinkle in his eyes whenever he sees this hat or the short sleeve jerseys. Pretty rare I get to see him like that. Nice post :-)

About Me

My name is Benjamin Christensen and I am a recent graduate of University of Oregon in Eugene. I have two Bachelor's Degrees in News/Editorial Journalism and Magazine Journalism with a minor in English. I've been writing ever since I was a kid, mostly doing creative writing, but I've been going strong since I was 15 when I was able to land an interview with Grant Hill of the Detroit Pistons for the high school newspaper I was working for in Bakersfield, California. From that moment of awesomeness I knew that doing something that involved writing and sports was my way in life.
I am probably best known for being a cast member of Season 2 of the MLB Fan Cave. You know, the awesomely bearded guy with all the tattoos. I have an in depth knowledge and perspective on baseball and love to immerse myself into the culture of the game with the fans, players and newcomers.